It was an amazing feat. More than 9,000 TDCJ offenders were moved out of harm’s way and later returned to their units safely and securely. Staff performed heroically under fire and sustained no injuries.

Still, agency administrators responsible for disaster response say that several lessons were learned from Hurricane Rita last September. No one expected, for example, that a mass exodus from Houston would create such gridlock that evacuation buses,

Nathaniel Quarterman was named director of the Correctional Institutions Division in May, replacing Doug Dretke who retired. Quarterman had served as deputy director for Prison and Jail Management within CID since 2003.

A national news magazine once described the maximum-security penitentiary near Lovelady as the toughest prison in America. But one man opened doors to voluntary rehabilitation programs in recent years that have helped rid Eastham of its once rugged reputation.